Our Canada based Law Firm is staffed with more than 25 licensed lawyers, licensed immigration consultants and technical personnel. Our firm represents international celebrities in the fashion industry and performing arts as well as some of North America’s largest corporations in their immigration and staffing projects.

An Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) is a new requirement for foreign nationals from visa-exempt countries arriving in Canada by air, whether to visit the country directly or to pass through in transit.

Canada’s Immigration Minister John McCallum will fly to the European Union’s headquarters in Brussels on Sunday as the deadline looms in the wrangle over travel visas.

With discussions on visa requirements increasingly linked to the ratification of a crucial trade deal, McCallum must tread a fine line after the uncertainty created by Britain’s vote to exit the EU.

Romania and Bulgaria are set to veto the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) if Canada does not grant their citizens visa-free travel as part of new EU reciprocity rules.

Canada has previously said neither country meets requirements for visa-free travel, with McCallum stating ‘we don’t do it in terms of reciprocity’.

But Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos visited Canada in June and it said to have agreed to work together with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to solve the issue.

The EU had been expected to ratify CETA at European Parliament level, but after turbulence created by the so-called ‘Brexit’ vote, part of the ratification process will now take place at state level, meaning it must pass through the individual parliaments of all 28 members.

Key Facts on Canada-EU Visa Reciprocity

EU introduced rule in 2014 saying all countries with visa-free access must provide same privilege for all member states.

Countries including Canada and US given two years to comply.

Canada does not allow visa-free travel for Bulgarians or Romanians.

Deadline expired on April 12, was extended to July 12.

No agreement likely to mean Canadians will need visas to travel to Schengen area (not including UK and Ireland).

Romanians using recent lifting of Mexican visa requirement as part of their argument.

Key Facts on CETA

Canada-EU trade deal has been 7 years in the making.

Would eliminate duties on thousands of products, covering 95 per cent of everything Canada sells to Europe

Formal signing of deal was expected in October, but now likely to de delayed.

‘Brexit’ created further uncertainty due to Britain’s involvement in the deal.

Canada’s International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland has been leading the negotiations and is confident the majority of the deal will be in place by 2017.

Romania’s Ciolos directly linked his country’s support for CETA to the visa reciprocity requirement during his trip, saying: « There’s no way the Romanians could accept being treated as secondary EU nationals. »

Romania sees its case for visa-free travel as stronger than Mexico’s. The Mexicans were granted visa-free access to Canada in June for the first time since 2009, when the restriction was imposed because of a huge number of asylum claims.

Trudeau is understood to have granted the privilege against the advice of officials from Immigration, Citizenship and Refugees Canada.

Interested employers: Kindly contact us here to receive further information.

Interested candidates: Find out whether you qualify to Canada by completing our free on-line evaluation. We will provide you with our evaluation within 1-2 business days.